By Simon Rocker
2 min read
For three years, Benjamin Landau organised Friday-night dinners or trips abroad for young adults as the assistant community rabbi at Stanmore and Canons Park United Synagogue.
But last autumn he moved east into a very different role. He is now executive director of Shaarei Parnosoh Toivah - meaning "gateway to a respectable livelihood" - an organisation that helps young men from the Charedi community of north London to find suitable employment.
SPT offers courses and practical guidance to young men in their 20s and 30s who have spent years at yeshivah and are raising a family but lack the skills or know-how to get on the right career ladder.
It was launched three years ago by local community activists who observed a growing problem in a changing world and a more challenging economic climate.
"Historically, this hadn't been so much of an issue," Mr Landau explained.
"The community was smaller and there used to be a lot more ability to move into a family business.
"There is a perception outside that the community doesn't want to work. People are ready to work and they want to earn a meaningful and sustainable living. But they are not sure where to go.
"It's not only about giving them the training and know-how, it's about feeding them into a career that's right for them."
In the past, some have ended up in low-paying, low-skilled jobs which leave them unfulfilled and without any career progression.
"So they are back to square one," Mr Landau said. "Another phenomenon is that the people have the get-up and go but the employer doesn't look after them, not out of malice but simply by failing to give them guidance or job training, so they end up leaving after a short time."
SPT runs courses in IT and English literacy and has just started one in graphic design.
Some students are graduates of Yiddish-speaking schools who, although they can speak English, need to learn how to write a job application or a business letter, for example. Others have married into the community from abroad.
It has to cater for a range of aptitude, from those comfortable with computers to people who don't even know how to switch one on. A group of 11 are studying two evenings a week for a level-four AAT to qualify as accountancy technicians, having completed levels two and three last year, which will open the door to jobs in book-keeping and financial administration.
While some of the courses are free, students on the year-long advance AAT programme have had to pay fees of £2,000.
SPT, which moved into an unit in an industrial park in Tottenham last year, currently operates on an annual budget of around £120,000.
Its courses are run in conjunction with other bodies such as Hackney Community College and London Metropolitan University and are sometimes timed to make it easier for participants to continue their Jewish learning in kollel.
"We are providing a service that elsewhere is inaccessible to them," Mr Landau said.
Plans include a business hub for those looking to start or develop their own enterprise since he believes that "there's a huge propensity for entrepreneurship within the community".
As for his own change of job direction, Mr Landau, who lives in Edgware, said he had enjoyed "a great three years at Stanmore. Because there were a lack of openings in the rabbinate, I looked further afield in terms of Jewish communal involvement and an opportunity that would allow me to use my management skills."
